Ed Hardy Launches Third Scent Duo

The tattoo-inspired Ed Hardy brand—whose fragrance license is held by Fort Lauderdale-based New Wave Fragrances—is conjuring pleasure and pain with its third-ever men’s and women’s scent duo entitled Hearts & Daggers.

Men’s and women’s eaux de parfum are available in 1.7 oz. and 3.4 oz. sizes for $55.00 and $75.00, respectively. Ancillaries include a 6.7-oz. women’s shimmering body lotion for $25.00 and a 2.75-oz. men’s deodorant priced at $15.00.

“In conceiving this collection, we thought to ourselves, ‘Where do we go from here? Where should we take this brand next?’” said New Wave’s CEO, Zalman Lekach. “Ultimately, we decided to amp up the look of the brand and make it even more visual with a very strong collage of Ed Hardy art.”

Indeed, packaging for the fragrances boasts pulsating designs by Don Ed Hardy—the renowned tattoo artist whose work melds American, Japanese, Cholo, surf and hot rod iconography.

The Hearts & Daggers package for men features a cracked skull surrounded by criss-crossing knives, orange flames and thorny roses. The women’s packaging features a pink skull and a heart punctured by vines that’s overlaid with the tag line, “Love kills slowly.”

The juices themselves are equally electric, Lekach said. In creating the men’s scent, perfumer Olivier Gillotin of Givaudan noted, “I imagined the Ed Hardy bad boy who ladies can’t get enough of, while other men admire him from afar.”

“We were thinking of a tattoo-wearing, confident guy with a chip on his shoulder,” Lekach described. “Ladies dig him, but he really is a guy’s guy.”

The juice contains top notes of anjou pear, fresh basil and a martini accord; heart notes of white pepper, papaya and rosemary; and a drydown of katsura wood, suede, patchouli and sandalwood.

The women’s scent was similarly “all about color, vibrant energy and going full throttle,” Lekach said.

Added perfumer Marypierre Julian of Givaudan: “I was inspired by the Ed Hardy clothing line…specifically its vibrant colors.”

The women’s juice contains top notes of blood orange orpur, violet leaf and gala apple; heart notes of mango, apple blossoms and pink jasmine; and base notes of cashmere musk, amber, benzoin tears orpur and blonde woods.

The scents launched last month at select department stores, including Nordstrom, Macy’s, Dillard’s, Bon-Ton, Carson’s and Sephora—in addition to clothing boutiques like Buckle and Metropark. Nationally, Hearts & Daggers will be distributed in 3,500 doors. Internationally, it will be available in another 3,500 doors. Lekach also said that New Wave just opened a subsidiary in London, which will distribute its Ed Hardy and True Religion fragrances overseas.

In addition to flashy on-counter visuals, promotional gift sets and GWPs, a print campaign is slated to run in Maxim, Vogue and other regional titles, Lekach said.

Asked about the enormous success of the Ed Hardy fragrance franchise—Hearts & Daggers was the 11th best-selling women’s fragrance and 24th best-selling men’s fragrance in the US last month, according to the NPD Group—Lekach attributes the takeoff of the scents to a perfect storm.

“It’s an intensely visual brand, which is not necessarily the norm in this business,” he continued. “It really stands out from everything else out there. In store, you can’t miss it. You see the visuals from a mile away and instantly know it’s Ed Hardy.”